"The white lion is occasionally found in wildlife reserves in South Africa and is a rare colour mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lion (Panthera leo krugeri). It has been perpetuated by selective breeding in zoos around the world. White lions are not yet a separate subspecies and they have been said to be indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest recorded sighting in this region was 1938. Regarded as divine by locals,[1] white lions first came to public attention in the 1970s in Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati. Up until 2009, when the first pride of white lions was reintroduced to the wild, it was widely believed that the white lion could not survive in the wild. It is for this reason that, now, a large part of the population of white lions are in zoos. Another large part, however, are bred in camps where they are bred almost always for canned hunting trophies.It is hard to determine exactly how many white lions there are today, because they are held in captive breeding and canned hunting operations which don't keep adequate records. Based on available evidence, The Global White Lion Protection Trust estimate there are less than 300 White Lions world-wide"white lion

thanks mike....no, these pics were snapped up at motswari....i dont know if the pride has actually been seen on ingwelala yet, i know they are seen by members on the main rd, but i havent heard of sightings of them on the property, although i do know they spent at least 3 days there last month, just no one saw them....currently they deep in the klaserie and we shall have to wait and see when they decided to return to the timbavati....

Leucistic means a colour variation. The animal has colour, but other than the norm. Example a white, not albino, impala, buffalo, etc. It does have colour, but not the same as usual. Or a totally black impala, or a zebra with no white. Never seen or heard of any, but those would be leucistic. So it is basically a colour variation.

MariusHunter, angler, nature lover, conservationist.

I believe that for man to survive, we must work with nature rather than against her. We need the land; the land doesn't need us. Too many people have lost sight of this fact. - Bruce Truter

the black leopards are known to occur; that is a colour variation called melanism, where too much melanin (black pigment) is produced in the animals...you get some birds like the melanistic form of the gabar goshawk that occur regularly because of the genetic inheritance...

i could be wrong, but leucism is gentically transfered, i am not sure about albinism??? if two albinos have young, will their offspring be albinos? if two white lions (leucistic animals) have young, all their cubs will be white...it is about pairing the recessive genes....i would guess albinism is not so much a recessive gene as a 'broken' gene??? im just thinking aloud here

as for the white lions, they are known to occur in the kruger, hluhluwe-umfolozi (have heard of a report there many many years ago), but predominantly and most frequently in the timbavati...as for the rest of southern africa, i havent personally heard of anything....why are they white? no one has any idea, but a lot of theories, like its a kick back from the ice age, but if that were the case, then surely the gene would be more wide spread and not confined to our area???

I have just returned from Timbavati and was fortunate to have seen the two white female lion cubs that the chad has posted pictures of!!! According to our guide, there are currently three wild white lions- these two females and a young male that is part of another pride.

Apparently it is possible for other white lions to be roaming somewhere within Kruger (as the area is so vast and large amounts of wilderness areas are restricted to the public) but it seems that there is a lack of current evidence to support this theory.

I think the natural occurance of White lions is fantastic as it was thought that they were infact extinct in the early 1990's!

A recent documentary has been made about the white lions of Timbavati and I think it will hit S.A shores soon!!!

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. -Kahlil Gibran

Rooies wrote:@Kallis1786. The white lions have been spotted in the Klaserie/Timbavati/Umbabat region as recently as middle November. So it appears that they are sticking to that area but nothing prevents them from moving to Kruger. And yes, there are no fences to keep them in. All three above mentioned areas now form part of the greater Kruger area. (We have got a trip planned to the Umbabat area for middle February and hopefully we will spot the white ones.)

Thats great news . Hopefully I can see them in the Timbavati loop on my trip in June. that they move to the orpen area.

The now eaten white cubs were part of the Ross pride. As the name implies, the farm Ross in the Klaserie is part of their core territory, along with Joubertshoop, which is mostly in the Timbavati. These farms are almost due west of Leeubron, but as the crow flies the distance is 30 - 42 km, with plenty of tawny lion prides in between. Your chances of encountering a white lion on the S39 are very slim.

Edited to add that there is also a pair of "white" subadults in the Dundee/Seekoeigat area, but that's even farther away.